First published 2013
Frances Gerety sits at her desk in 1947, struggling to find the perfect slogan for De Beers diamonds. She scribbles "A Diamond Is Forever" on a scrap of paper before bed. That phrase will reshape how Americans think about love and marriage. Decades later, four couples navigate the complexities her words helped create. Evelyn marks forty years with a husband who replaced her first wedding ring with his own. Delphine swings between passionate highs and bitter endings. James works night shifts as a paramedic while his wife's family questions her choice. Kate plans every kind of wedding imaginable but refuses to have her own after a decade with Dan. Their stories unfold across nearly a century as diamonds become symbols of eternal commitment. Sullivan weaves together these marriages to show how advertising shaped romance itself. The novel reveals how one woman's late night inspiration created expectations that still influence couples today.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, love-story
Period: 1947, Decades Later
380 pages · Hardcover · Knopf